A Father's Name

EPILOGUE

SIX MONTHS LATER, TYLER found Angelina in her paint room. She was staring intently at a motorcycle’s fuel tank, as if waiting for inspiration to strike.

He didn’t need inspiration. He simply needed more luck. He felt almost greedy hoping for more, but there was something about Angelina that made him want to reach for more. To be more.

“I have a present for you,” he said, extending the package toward her.

Tucker opened the bag. “Another T-shirt? Ty, I’m pretty sure I could wear a new T-shirt every day of the year and not have to repeat one.”

“This one’s special,” he insisted. He thought he’d be cool and collected, but he wasn’t. He thought he knew what she’d say, but he’d learned that if there was one surety in this world it was the fact that there was never anything for sure where Angelina was concerned.

He’d been bringing her T-shirts for months. Funny and cute sayings. This one simply said, Yes.

“Yes?” she said, holding it up, clearly puzzled.

Tyler had thought of many ways to do this. He’d mulled it over for weeks. Angelina Tucker wasn’t a pop the question at sunset after a romantic date. She wasn’t a pop the question on a screen at some big game. He’d even thought about doing it at some party, in front of all her friends and family.

After all his mulling, he’d decided she was exactly the kind of woman who would prefer this. Something unique, but private.

Slowly, he unbuttoned his flannel shirt, his perfectly pressed and tailored flannel shirt, and flashed his T-shirt at Angelina. He didn’t need to look down to know it read, Will you marry me?

He pointed at her T-shirt and found himself holding his breath, waiting for her to answer. She burst out laughing and said the word he’d been praying for. “Yes. Yes, Tyler Martinez, I will marry you.”

She punctuated the sentence with a kiss that told him she meant it. She hadn’t needed a T-shirt to prompt her.

“Yes,” she repeated and kissed him. “I can’t think of anything I want more than taking your name for my own. It means something, your name. Something to be proud of, Tyler. I’m as proud of it as Jace will be some day.”

In that instant, Tyler Martinez had everything he wanted in life.

Everything that mattered right here with this woman and the future they were going to build together. The family they’d become.